Schools are worried about what to do if a student or a teacher tests positive for Covid-19 during the board exams.

The worry stems from the news that two city schools had to shut down their campuses for about a week after a student at one of the institutions and a teacher at another were found to have been infected with the coronavirus.

A student at La Martiniere for Boys and a teacher at St Lawrence High School, who had last gone to their respective campuses on Friday, have tested positive. La Martiniere for Boys will remain closed till March 27 and St Lawrence High School till March 29.

A number of school heads said they were not empowered to shut down institutions if any teacher or student tested positive during board exams. The heads of schools affiliated to various boards said several questions remained unanswered in the absence of any clear guidelines.

Some of the unanswered questions:

• How many individuals have to be isolated if one student is infected?
• Will the infected child have to skip a year?
• Can the infected child appear in another test or in an online exam?
• Will the school evaluation or pre-boards marks be taken into consideration if a student cannot write the papers because of infection?
• How to do contact tracing and isolate individuals?

Public health experts said that it was difficult to do contact tracing during a board exam.

At the most, a school might isolate students who have come in contact with the infected child, but that might not be enough, said Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, a public health expert associated with the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beleghata. “It is difficult to identify all the students who have come in contact with the infected student.”

At least four school heads said any decision during the board exams had to be taken by the respective boards.

Krishna Damani, trustee of South Point school, which is affiliated to the CBSE, was among those who expressed concern about what would happen if an examinee or a teacher tested positive during board exams.

The CBSE Class X and XII exams are to begin on May 4, and so are the ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) theory exams.

Madhyamik starts on June 1 and the Higher Secondary theory papers on June 15.

The principal of a south Calcutta school who did not want to be named said “perhaps the two incidents in the city will make the boards come up with clearer instructions”.

Terence Ireland, the principal of St James' School, said there would have to be a clear roadmap on how schools would conduct the exams for the rest of the students if any examinee tests positive.

“During a school exam, a school can shift to the online mode. But if an incident like this happens during the boards, the school has to conduct the exam for the rest of the students. How is it going to do that?” wondered Ireland.

Devi Kar, the director of Modern High School for Girls, said: "I'm sure the ICSE council has an alternative because it is not the child's fault and they can't be expected to sacrifice a year."

Public health experts said the only way to minimise the risk of infection is to maintain distance among each other and wear masks.

“The board will also have to keep alternative centres ready so that if one centre has to be shut down, exams can be conducted at another,” said Rita Chatterjee, the director of North Point Senior Secondary Boarding Schools.